What Is the Jenny Craig Diet?

The Jenny Craig Diet is a weight loss plan that relies on premade food and personal consultations to get you to your goal weight.

All members of the program receive weekly encouragement and guidance from their personal consultant, either virtually or through in-person sessions at nearby centers.

You’ll receive a week or two’s worth of pre-made meals when you first sign up for this plan, and these meals are designed to help you learn portion control and better eating habits.

As you get closer to your weight loss target, you’ll transition back to regular food so that you learn the skills necessary to maintain your progress over time.

The Jenny Craig Diet began in Australia in 1983 and opened 46 locations across the United States by 1987. Today, the company considers the plan to be a long-term lifestyle for maintaining weight loss and developing healthy behaviors like daily exercise.

Nothing is banned on this diet, which makes it a viable eating strategy for the long term.

But should you consider joining the Jenny Craig Diet trend, or is there a better weight loss solution available? This review will help you answer this question.

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How It Works

If you are interested in signing up for the Jenny Craig diet, the first step is to determine whether one of the 600 nationwide centers is near you. You can check their location tool to find your closest location).

You can then enroll at the location of your choice, and it will become the place where you pick up food and meet with your personal consultant.

All Jenny Craig memberships include one-on-one consultation. These are completed in person if you choose an in-center option, or over the phone if you select Jenny Craig Anywhere.

From what we gleaned from job postings on Glassdoor, Jenny Craig consultants are required to have a high school diploma, preferably with some college courses, as well as retail experience, basic computer skills, and the ability to work collaboratively with others.

We didn’t find any mention, either from the job posting or Jenny Craig customer service, that the position requires previous health or nutritional training.

Your consultant will help you set up a personalized weekly meal plan based on your health goals. The costs for this service may vary based on location-specific promotions and other factors.

If no locations are convenient, you can instead request that all food is delivered to your home by mail and talk with your consultant by phone. You can order your first week or two of meals through the company’s curated trial plans, which we’ll discuss in further detail later.

For the first portion of your weight loss journey, you should primarily eat pre-made Jenny Craig food and you’ll meet with your consultant once per week.

Once you approach the halfway point, you will start eating a few meals you make yourself at home a few times a week, and you’ll transition to monthly consultation appointments.

This means that all cooking and most grocery shopping pressure is off at the beginning, though you will likely want to buy approved snack items like fresh fruits and vegetables to fill out the meals.

Exercise is another component of the Jenny Craig Diet, as you will work with your consultant to reach a goal of at least 30 minutes of moderate activity five times a week.

After you reach your goal weight, you will spend an additional four weeks transitioning off the plan’s meals completely and onto the Jenny Craig Maintenance Plan.

Your consultant will help you through the adjustment process by providing you with recipes, portion size guidance, and other strategies.

Even after your transition month is up, the company still recommends eating one Jenny Craig meal and snack per day to maintain your perspective on healthy portion sizes and give you a daily “no brainer” eating session.

You can continue working with your consultant after you reach your weight loss goals, so long as you keep paying the monthly membership fee. These fees vary in cost by location.

Jenny Craig has a new program called Rapid Results, too. This eating strategy is similar to intermittent fasting, as it requires you to eat all your meals within a 12-hour nourishment period and then take a break for the next 12-hours as a rejuvenation period.

This plan’s goal is to align your eating times with your metabolism so that you take maximum advantage of your body’s ability to burn fat in order to achieve faster weight loss.

The company states that their internal testing showed that Rapid Results participants lost up to 16 pounds in their first four weeks on the plan.

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Your personal consultant will help you decide whether this plan is right for you and offer guidance on how to get started.

Whichever program you choose, Jenny Craig claims much of the success of its program can be attributed to the relationship you will develop with your consultant.

The goal is to meet with your consultant once per week—either in person or by phone—to establish the week’s goals and plan out meals.

This provides an opportunity to discuss challenges and setbacks, as well as set up strategies for potentially challenging future situations, such as parties or restaurant meals.

Beyond your weekly meetings, you will also have unlimited access to your consultant through texting. This creates an extra level of accountability and guidance for your weight loss efforts.

You will continue working with your consultant for as long as you keep paying your monthly membership fees. Many people continue the service after meeting their goal weight for the extra accountability it offers.

About Jenny Craig Type 2

If you’re dealing with diabetes, Jenny Craig Type 2 is designed specifically for you. This modified plan is meant to help you both lose weight and manage diabetes.

The company website states that 72% of patients who followed the plan reduced or eliminated their use of insulin, and they lost up to three times more weight compared to those receiving standard care.

This plan differs from traditional Jenny Craig plans because it prioritizes low sugar snacks and meals and includes four unique pre-planned weekly menus.

You need to purchase the meals as-is and can’t substitute products. The trial price starts at $23.29 per day, or $163 per week.

What Are Jenny Craig Menu Options?

At the time of writing, the Jenny Craig Diet offers more than 100 pre-made food options. Some are shelf-stable, while others should be kept frozen until you eat them.

The company claims that each menu item contains quality ingredients and follows established nutritional guidelines.

Each plan provides you with three meals and two snacks per day, so you can incorporate one snack of your own to eat the recommended six times per day for the plan.

These foods tend to contain a lot of water, so the idea is that they will keep you feeling full without adding too many extra calories to your diet.

Your consultant will work with you to develop plans for how to combine Fresh & Free foods into the meals. They may also recommend using Jenny Craig brand add-ons to your diet like soup or side vegetables.

Below are some of the top food options offered by Jenny Craig at the time of writing, including the price if you decide to purchase them a la carte.

Nothing is technically off-limits on the Jenny Craig diet, including splurges like alcoholic beverages.

What Does the Jenny Craig Diet Cost?

At the time of writing, the Jenny Craig Diet offers multiple plans at different tiers of membership.

The Trial Program is designed for people who have 16 pounds or less to lose. You can choose between several plans based on your personal goals, each of which offers options for meal customization based on the recommendations of your consultant.

Most plans cost between $167.50–$170.60 for 35 meals and snacks, which comes to a week’s worth of food. Options include plans that are gender-specific, meatless, and designed for low-sugar diets.

If you’re looking to lose more weight, a Premium program is a better option.

You’ll need to commit to an enrollment fee for a 12-month membership to join, the cost of which varies based on your location and plan specifics.

You can message the company at (866) 706-4042 to learn the pricing specifics for your situation.

Signing up for either program will automatically enroll you in an auto-delivery service. You’ll be charged and sent food (or have it sent to your chosen center) every one or two weeks depending on your plan.

It’s possible to cancel your subscription at any time before 6 am PST of the day before your order begins processing, but you need to pay a fee of $99 if you cancel your order before purchasing meals for four weeks.

Do Users Like the Jenny Craig Diet?

We looked at written reviews on Consumer Affairs to see what participants think of the Jenny Craig Diet. What we learned is that the overall opinion of this plan is positive, as it scored more than four stars after about 250 reviews.

Many users reported that they loved the food on the plan and were down ten pounds or more within a few weeks of beginning.

Others specified that their consultant was the key to their success, as they created a level of accountability and support to the plan often missing with other diets.

Some of these reviewers referenced starting a friendship with their consultant and noted that they appreciated having someone they could text about nutrition questions in times of need.

We also read positive comments from vegetarians, who appreciated the plan’s variety of meal options that catered to their eating preferences. However, one negative for a lot of people was the amount of packaging that came with the meals. Others thought the food seemed pricy for the quantity but not unreasonable considering relatively few additions were necessary.

Surprisingly, we didn’t notice many negative comments about this diet, even regarding canceling a subscription or dealing with customer service. These are often issues of concern with other companies, especially ones like Nutrisystem that charge a similar fee for opting out early.

The Bottom Line: Should You Try the Jenny Craig Diet?

Now that we’ve looked at the details, do we think you should consider following the Jenny Craig Diet?

It goes without saying that this plan makes the most sense if you live near a Jenny Craig center. That’s because the central premise of this plan is that working directly with an expert will help you meet your goals faster.

We think having face to face time with your consultant each week is more valuable than phone calls because you build more rapport and can’t fudge the facts as well.

From a nutrition standpoint, the Jenny Craig diet delivers a lot of processed food for the first half of the program, and that’s not ideal from a dietary perspective because they contain refined carbs and artificial sweeteners.

However, U.S. News and World Report ranks this diet as second only to Weight Watchers when it comes to the best commercial diet plans. The plan wins points for its menu flexibility, lack of food restrictions, and built-in strategy to get you cooking for yourself by the end.

Another positive is that this plan shows clinical evidence of being effective for countering obesity. A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine recognizes that the diet may potentially be effective for weight loss because it involves live dietary counseling, low-calorie foods, behavior modification, and physical activity.

Saying that, you’ll pay a lot for the meals. Many a la carte options from Jenny Craig are at a similar price-point as eating out, and you’ll need to spend at least $660 per month for your food. However, you might find the convenience well worth it.

Our best advice, if you’re interested in this plan, is to commit to signing up for at least a month. It will take that long to start seeing results, and that way you avoid paying the $99 penalty if you decide to unsubscribe.